Analysis of Kepler Active Galactic Nuclei Using A Revised Kirk, Rieger, Mastichiadis (1998) Model
Year: 2014
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are cores of distant protogalaxies, with a supermassive blackhole at the center surrounded by an accretion disk, and bipolar jets. Blazars, a subset of AGN, have their jets aligned with our line of sight. Emission from blazars is highly variable on all timescales and frequencies. Microvariability refers to rapid continuum variations that arise within the jet. Bhatta et al. (2013) suggest a modified Kirk, Rieger, \& Mastichiadis (1998) model (KRM) to explain microvariability. The KRM model assumes that when shock waves passes though the jet, each turbulent cell encountered produces a pulse of emission characterized by cell size, local density enhancement, and magnetic field strength. NASA's \kepler\ has monitored optical emission from four AGN. We use the modified KRM model to analyze micro-variations in these \kepler\ data. The distribution of cell sizes computed from these data is consistent with the distribution expected from a turbulent plasma.
Author: Sarah M Dhalla
Institution: Florida International University
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W1786919